Thursday, May 24, 2012

Halehui Palace Complex

After the Battle of Nu'uanu, in the summer of 1795, Kamehameha's chiefs
and followers populated Honolulu.

In those days, the area around today’s Honolulu Harbor was not called
Honolulu. Instead, each land section had
its own name. This area was oftentimes
referenced as “Kou.”

In 1804, Kamehameha I first lived at Waikīkī, but then moved near the
Pākākā canoe landing in 1809. This
area was then referred to as Halehui Palace Complex.

This complex was located at what is today approximately just Ewa of
Fort and Queen Streets.

The complex was surrounded on the mauka and Diamond Head sides by a
fence, it consisted of many houses, for Kamehameha, Ka‘ahumanu and other
chiefesses, and for his Gods and his personal attendants.

Close by were two drilling sites and a “foot racing” and maika field,
where the king kept a personal eye on the performances of his warriors and
chiefs.

The Hale Mua (men’s eating house) was the largest thatch building. The next largest building was the Hale ‘Aina
(women’s eating house). Ka‘ahumanu, and
others with her, slept in three small buildings nearby.

Next, along the beach of Kuloloia, was the home of the chiefess
Nāmāhana, mother of Ka‘ahumanu; that of Liliha, mother of Keōpūolani,
Kamehameha’s sacred wife and mother of Kamehameha’s II and III.

Then came the residence of Kalanimoku, the king's prime minister -
known to the foreigners as "Billy Pitt."

Other buildings nearby included
a storage house, powder magazine, guardhouse, attendant houses, a
battery of 16 carriage guns and two extensive stone storehouses for the King’s
western goods.

At Kamehameha's request, O‘ahu governor Kuihelani gave Don Francisco
Paula de Marin a waterfront holding of about two acres.

Marin, a Spaniard who arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1793 or 1794
and had become a confidante of Kamehameha, recorded in his journal, “In the end
of 1809 and beginning of 1810 I was employed building a stone house for the
King” (Honolulu's first permanent building.)

This was the first stone structure in Honolulu, a town that, by 1810,
was “a village of several hundred native dwellings centered around the grass
houses of Kamehameha on Pākākā Point near the foot of what is now Fort
Street. Of the sixty white residents on
O‘ahu, nearly all lived in the village, and many were in the service of the king.”

It is unclear whether Kamehameha himself ever resided in the completed
house.

The left section of the map (where Nu‘uanu Stream empties into the
harbor) identifies the area known as Kapu‘ukolo; this is "where white men
and such dwelt."

Building in Honolulu, however, continued quickly with Marin and other
foreign residents building their own stone houses and buildings during the
ensuing decade.

A system of trails led from the village. In the Diamond Head direction, one path led
from the homes of Kamehameha, Kalanimoku, Kīnaʻu and others partially across
modern Kakaʻako to Kālia (in Waikīkī.).

A second series of trails followed modern South King Street before
branching off in Pāwa‘a to Waikīkī, Waialae and areas now generally East
Mānoa and Mānoa Roads.

The Ewa bound path passed the homes of Kamehameha, chiefs and Marin,
and followed the Diamond Head side of Nu‘uanu Stream before passing into
Kapālama and taking the route of the Moanalua Freeway into ‘Aiea.

Honolulu appeared as shown here for only a short while; in the latter part
of 1812, Kamehameha and most of his Court, including Liholiho, went to Hawai‘i
to the Kamakahonu Royal Center, where he remained until his death in 1819.

The map image (a portion of the Ii-Rockwood map from UH at Mānoa,
Hamilton Library) notes the Kamehameha compound and surrounding associated uses
that made up the Halehui Palace Complex in the 1810 time frame.

Again, the Pākākā area of this complex was located at what is today
approximately just Ewa of Fort and Queen Streets – the reef was filled in and
land added to form what is now Aloha Tower and surrounding uses.

About Me

I am a lifetime resident of Hawai`i. I’ve been in the private sector for 30-years, 2-years in County Administration and 4 1/2-years in State Administration. Our firm, Ho`okuleana LLC, is a planning and consulting firm assisting property owners with land use planning efforts, including environmental review, entitlement process, permitting, community outreach, etc.
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About the historical posts … in an effort to provide brief background summaries of various people, places and events in Hawaiʻi, I make informal compilations from a variety of sources. These are not intended to be technical reference documents; rather they are assemblages of information and images from various sources. In many cases, specific citations and attributions are often omitted. The images and text in various posts are from various sources and are presented for personal, non-commercial and/or educational purposes.